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RIP Don Hewitt

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by PCLoadLetter, Aug 19, 2009.

  1. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Wallace is 91, Rooney is 90. Safer is the whipper-snapper of the group at a mere 77.
     
  2. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    They're probably hoping it's Couric.
     
  3. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    And Charles Osgood and Bob Schieffer are 76 and 72, respectively.
     
  4. This exchange between me and Birdscribe was orginally posted in the Walter Cronkite RIP thread, but it bears repeating here because it also involved Don Hewitt.

    Quote from: Birdscribe on July 20, 2009, 01:36:20 PM

    Case in point, my favorite tale and one I haven't heard before -- the one about Sinatra.
    Cronkite wants a sit-down interview with Sinatra, who -- as you're all aware -- wasn't the most media-friendly fellow on the planet. He gets Sinatra on the phone and tells him he wants to interview him. Sensing Sinatra's resistance building, he tells him you'll sit in the same chair that Dwight Eisenhower sat in, the same chair JFK sat in and the same chair Lyndon Johnson sat in.
    Then comes the needle:
    "And that chair was big enough for them...."
    Sinatra did the interview.
    Actually, my favorite part of that was when Sinatra stormed off (and had to be coaxed back to finish the interview) and basically threatened to kill Cronkite's producer (I think it was Don Hewitt, no?) after Walter asked him if he got upset about allegations of being tied to the mob.
    IIRC, the producer replied something to the effect of, "Coming from anybody else, I might think you're kidding."

    Ya gotta' love someone who had the kind of chutzpah it took to say something like that to Sinatra's face.

    RIP Don Hewitt.
     
  5. BNWriter

    BNWriter Active Member



    Hewitt directed Nixon-Kennedy debate. Always seemed to enjoy his work from hearing him talk about it when interviewed. Seemed like a hell of a guy.

    RIP, Don.
     
  6. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    His book is fantastic.

    RIP
     
  7. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    What, did Safer start working there when he was 12? Been on board for-freaking-ever.
     
  8. friend of the friendless

    friend of the friendless Active Member

    Sirs, Madames,

    Safer, a proud Canadian. Figures he's the funny one.

    o-<
     
  9. BNWriter

    BNWriter Active Member

    60 Minutes to pay tribute to Hewitt this Sunday.......

    http://my.midvalleyvoice.com/post/GrahamKislingbury/blog2/2/don_hewitt.html
     
  10. Birdscribe

    Birdscribe Active Member

    Nice get, Dr.

    Hewitt was on the ground floor of some of the pillar moments in television news. He was the first director of "See It Now" -- the Ed Murrow/Fred Friendly product that was the genesis of television news documentaries and the show that took Joe McCarthy apart. Hewitt borrowed liberally from that to create "60 Minutes".

    He was also the producer of the first CBS Evening News, the 15-minute newscast with Douglas Edwards that preceded Walter Cronkite's iconic presence. And, as BNWriter pointed out, he directed the Nixon-Kennedy debates.

    The man was Zelig with a purpose when it came to television news. RIP to one of the most influential people in the history of the medium.
     
  11. OMG, what an outstanding (and appropriate) reference.

    For those of you who don't know what he's talking about, rent the Woody Allen movie "Zelig" and you will (not to mention have a bunch of laughs in the process).
     
  12. friend of the friendless

    friend of the friendless Active Member

    Dr,

    Actually, Zelig was at everything and around famous people but didn't do a heckuva lot.

    Hewitt wasn't a passenger. He steered the ship. Not Zeligesque. Zelig wasn't important. Hewitt was. Now if it was a guy holding the boom at the Nix-JFK debate and Pepsi had him in charge of fireworks when Michael Jackson's hair lit up, that's Zeligish.

    o-<
     
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